The University of Western States is an accredited institution of higher education offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in integrative health sciences and related professional studies, located in Portland, Oregon. Programs include: Doctor of Chiropractic; Doctor of Clinical Nutrition; Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine; Doctor of Education in Sport and Performance Psychology; Masters of Science in Functional Medicine and Nutrition, Sport and Performance Psychology, Sports Medicine, and Clinical Mental Health Counseling; Bachelor of Science in Human Biology. Appropriate to the various curricula, the UWS Library hosts a modern medical collection of print and e-books with focused areas on chiropractic health care, functional medicine, manual medicine, diagnostic imaging, sports medicine, rehabilitation, nutrition, clinical counseling, performance psychology, and naturopathic medicine.

The UWS Library, which houses the historical materials, including books, journals and archives, actively participates in interlibrary loan.

Historical materials can be scanned onsite, depending on their condition.

The library’s hours are: Monday – Thursday, 7:00 am – 7:00 pm and Friday, 7:00 am – 5:00 pm; library staff are currently available online on Sundays, 12:00 – 8:00 p.m. Hours during campus breaks are: Monday-Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.

Founded in 1904, the University of Western States hosts the oldest chiropractic program in the western United States. Of interest to historians is a heritage collection that includes the incunabula of chiropractic literature as well as early works, journals, ephemera and papers from the Vitalist, Eclectic, Naturopathic, Osteopathic, and Naprapathic medicine communities of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The archive holds an assortment of artifacts and equipment used by early chiropractic and naturopathic practitioners. Realia, papers and historical photographs are available to visiting scholars by appointment. Digitization of historical photographs and papers is ongoing.

The UWS Library houses the Archive Collection: Monographs- 648; Print Journals- 37 ceased publications (range 1902-1997); Ephemera/Realia (not cataloged- range 1896-present); Collected Papers- William Allen Budden DC, ND; Ralph Failor DC; Herbert J. Vear DC, George Dunn DC; Appa Anderson DC; 500-600 photographs of and documents related to Oregon Chiropractic practitioners, teachers and leaders. Circa 1900-present; photographs and documents related to the history of the university (1904-present).

The library’s Main Collection contains: 21st Century Monographs- 6,786;20th Century Monographs- 5,248 and Print Journals- 270 (range 1912-present).